A marine outboard engine includes a cowling which covers the engine and other internal components so as to prevent them from being damaged by water and other exterior elements. The cowling is usually divided into two parts. A top bell shaped portion covers the engine compartment and a column shaped bottom portion covers the driveshaft and other components located between the engine and the gear case.
As seen in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a prior art cowling 100PA of a prior art outboard marine engine 40PA includes an upper motor cover 110PA, a lower motor cover 111PA, and a cap 120PA defined in the upper motor cover 110PA. The cap 120 PA covers an access to an engine sub-system. The upper motor cover 110PA encloses a top portion of an engine 44PA. The upper motor cover 110PA is a generally half-spherical unitary plastic piece. The lower motor cover 111PA surrounds the remainder of the engine 44PA not covered by the upper motor cover 110PA and an exhaust system 46PA. A connection between the upper motor cover 110PA and the lower motor cover 111PA extends from a front to a back of the outboard marine engine 40PA. A lower edge 70PA of the upper motor cover 110PA mates in a sealing relationship with an upper edge 72PA of the lower motor cover 111PA. A seal 74PA is disposed between the lower edge 70PA of the upper motor cover 110PA and the upper edge 72PA of the lower motor cover 111PA to form a watertight connection. A locking mechanism 76PA is provided on a right side of the cowling 100PA. When a user desires to do maintenance on the engine 44PA, the user detaches the upper motor cover 110PA from the lower motor cover 111PA using the locking mechanism 76PA, and then removes the whole upper motor cover 110PA.
The marine outboard engine 40PA includes several engine sub-systems or engine accessories (not shown) directly connected to the engine 44PA. The engine sub-systems control an operation of the engine 44PA. The engine sub-systems can include, but are not limited to: an ECU, at least one ignition coil, an electrical wire harness and a fuse box, an induction system, a flywheel magneto, a starter motor, an alternator, a fuel evaporator separator, an exhaust manifold, a fuel injector, an oil pump, an oil reservoir, and a secondary fuel reservoir.
As viewed from behind in FIG. 1B, the marine outboard engine 40PA, the cowling 100PA has a general rounded top contour defined by the upper motor cover 110PA and an angular and sudden transition to a tubular shape bottom contour defined by the lower motor cover 111PA. The upper motor cover 110PA and the lower motor cover 111PA have a generally horizontal partition.
There are several inconveniences with the prior art cowlings for marine outboard engines. First, because the cowlings are disposed around the engine, they are designed to accommodate the most outwardly extending parts of the engine. As a consequence, the cowlings are often more voluminous than required. Second, in order to access a specific part of the engine, the user has to remove heavy and voluminous parts of the cowling. Third, the cowling, which is usually shipped with the engine, is prone to scratching during transportation or during handling, and become unsatisfactory to the user. Fourth, a cowling can represent manufacturing and shipping challenges. Also, the marine outboard engine assembly is dependent on the cowling since the cowling is assembled last. Finally, prior art cowlings provide the user with limited customizing options.
Therefore, there is a need for a cowling for a marine engine that would allow to access different parts of the engine without removing large cowling pieces.
There is also a need for a cowling for a marine engine that would be easy to transport and to manufacture.
Finally, there is a need for a cowling for a marine engine that would ease an assembly of a marine outboard engine.